


Chill In the Air

by JazzRaft



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 16:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13150569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: Winter hits Insomnia and Noctis is fully prepared to reap what it snows. Nyx is just along for the ride.





	1. skating by

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Ficmas and happy birthday, wine dad! Please accept this humble bit of floof for the void <3

Never before had he looked forward to his holiday leave so much. He’d dreaded it, truly.

Come Startide, when the Lucian people started clotting the streets of Insomnia with retail warfare, Nyx never really caught the festive infection that seeped into the city. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand it – some of the same holidays were celebrated back in Galahd, too – it was that he didn’t like being reminded that the one gift he would ever ask of their star to bless him with, it couldn’t give. He hated worrying over the one person every year from the group of friends he coveted that didn’t get leave in those final weeks of the year.

He spent most of the holiday season fretting about who was stuck watching the frontlines beyond the Wall rather than doing their star’s bidding of bestowing gifts on the ones he loved under the glory of its light. He spent those frigid winter nights staring out his window at the strings of lights in every window across the city to honor the Glacian, and trying not to envy all the families that shut themselves into warm apartments to wait and see if the lights would delight Shiva enough to ward off Her first frost as superstition suggested.

He spent a lot of his nights on holiday leave at Yama’s, warming himself with whatever he could afford when the heating rattled and coughed at his place. He spent this time of year with the only family he had left, huddling close to the chef’s window to feel the heat of the ovens and indulging in the Lucian fashion of trading small gifts when the day arrived.

They had their own traditions from home, too. Dumb little family things, exclusive to every clan. He still had Libs and Crowe and whoever else had nothing to do, come over and watch horrible movies underneath cheap fur throws because that’s what he remembered doing at home. It was campfires instead of movies, then. He still had some of the same blankets, though.

It was a lonely time of year for all of them, no matter how close they tried to stay with each other. It was hard not to remember who they _weren’t_ sharing the holidays with when that was all they saw on the streets. Families pointing at lights, kids laughing as they slipped over icy sidewalks, and lovers kissing under weeds most of the Glaive had been trained to give a wide berth because they were poisonous.

Nyx loved his friends. They were his family, and had been long before he lost his. He cherished the small, fractured moments they clung onto every year to survive the sorrow of celebrating the holidays alone. He looked forward to them, if nothing else.

But this year, he was looking forward to his leave so much more. Yes, he still worried over who among his friends would draw the short stick and be condemned to keeping the Wall secure. Yes, he still had that movie night just for them, still swapped gag gifts and cheap beer at Malbo Smul’s. He didn’t give up any of that, nor did his fondness for what those moments meant to him diminish.

But things were different this year. This year, he wasn’t exchanging loneliness for fleeting happiness. This year, he only had happiness to share. This year, he had someone to go home to on that dreaded holiday leave.

Noctis bounced up from the couch with crossed fingers when Nyx walked into his apartment. There was always the possibility that a last minute call would come in. Most years, Nyx had actually _wished_ for his leave to get canceled or cut short. The blood of his enemies was just as warm as a bottle of beer. He’d been warning Noctis not to get his hopes too high that his vacation would start exactly when he clocked it.

He was relieved that he didn’t need to disappoint him. Nyx dropped his bag of personal effects from the Glaive locker room into the corner, spread his arms with a dramatic, heaving sigh, and announced, “I’m free.”

Noctis warp-stepped across the apartment in a quick blue haze. In hardly a breath, Nyx was smothered with an armful of prince, squeezing his arms around his waist like he was a stuffed moogle in the arms of a child.

“I’m taking you out tomorrow,” Noctis told him before he could get a word in edgewise. “Don’t ask, it’s a surprise. Just dress warm and we can kick off the holidays right. Right?”

Noctis lifted his face up from where it was burrowed into his chest, eyes sparkling with a prism of ideas for holiday cheer. This was the first year in a long time for each of them since they’d had a boyfriend around the holiday season. Noctis had told him about all the silly dreams he had of doing all the cliché couple things he always saw around the city. He confided shy, secret desires in the deep dark of night or pearly gray-white of dawn, only at the hours when it felt like only the two of them were awake in the whole world. Things he was embarrassed about wanting. Things that he laughed at himself for. Things that Nyx wanted to do with him, damn what anyone else thought of them.

“Can’t wait,” Nyx said, and pressed a kiss against his forehead.

\---

He had to give Noctis credit. He was _definitely_ surprised.

Given how familiar he was with Noct’s dislike of physical exertion and his healthy aversion for volunteering to do anything even remotely athletic, _ice skating_ was not anywhere close to what he might’ve guessed the prince was planning.

It was a cute little park that often hosted small, family festivals each season. Local craftsmen and charity buffets, stuff like that. This time of year, it was ice skate rentals. The pond at the middle of the park had frozen over – the lights must not have appeased Shiva this year – and there was a makeshift stand of skates for rent, with a rickety old man standing by with safety tips and a first aid kit should there be any accidents on the ice.

Nyx might have took his chances with breaking into the water rather than rely on this old codger to save him. But he kept that to himself and just smiled dumbly throughout the whole dissertation about skate safety. He wasn’t worried.

“ _How_ are you not falling on your ass?”

Noctis actually sounded _disappointed_ that Nyx took to the ice so well. The prince had been hobbling along next to him the whole first circuit around the pond. When he’d first stepped out, he’d looked as confident as a pedigree chocobo, strutting across a show floor. One foot forward and he’d nearly face-planted. Nyx had been catching him around the waist and letting him clamp his arms around his as they inched across the ice.

Nyx tried very hard not to be amused by the sight – the bruises on his arm from how hard Noctis had to dig in to stay standing certainly weren’t. He was trying _so hard_. His lips were pressed in a tight, white line, brows furrowed as he scrutinized his footwork and tried to make the skates _work, damnit._ All of that elite combat training couldn’t have prepared him for the trial of _those_ blades. He could make any sharp object bend to his will in the grip of his hand… but not on his feet.

“Seriously, _how_ are you doing that?” Noctis gasped, nearly dragging Nyx down to the ice with him when he lost his balance before righting himself again.

“This is all Galahd was in winter,” Nyx explained, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. “Ice and hail and sludge. If you didn’t learn to walk on ice, you got buried in the snow.”

“I know for a fact that Galahd is not nearly as much of a hellscape as you make it out to be.”

“What, you mean you don’t take my word for it? I thought you believed all of my bullshit, Your Highness.”

Noctis glared at him for daring to tease at such a harrowing time in his life. It was just enough of a break in his concentration for him to lose his footing. Nyx swept an arm across his chest to keep him from colliding with the ice. The movement knocked him on his ass, catching the prince’s wait against his chest and sending them both sprawling. Noctis was the first to curse, gloved palms scrabbling against the ice on either side of Nyx as he tried to sit up enough to look at him.

“Shit! Are you alright? Are you bleeding? Did I crack your skull open?”

Nyx had to laugh. He got a smack in the shoulder for it, but it was worth it. He hadn’t felt this giddy since he was a kid. Hadn’t done something so simple and fun in a long, _long_ time. Hadn’t felt pain so dull and insignificant for a long time too.

“I thought for sure you would be the fumbly one,” Noctis huffed, clouds of breath thawing Nyx’s nose. “And maybe I’d get to save your ass for once.”

“More like laugh at how ridiculous you thought I’d look.”

Noctis pouted, innocently enough, but there was a wicked little glimmer to his eyes that said otherwise. He sighed. “Well, I think I can cross this off the cliché romantic bullshit list, right?”

“I dunno. I still think it’s kind of romantic. I’m injured and possibly dying. You’re going to have to give me CPR to keep me alive or something.”

Noctis snorted in laughter, rolling his eyes at him. But while he was there, tumbled against Nyx’s chest and just barely holding onto his balance to keep his arms aloft enough to look down at him, he obliged him with a kiss. A little cold and chapped from the winter air, but there was never a thing Nyx would complain about kissing Noctis.

“Want to go get some coffee?” Noctis asked. “Before that old guy insists on giving you some CPR himself?”

“Just bash my skull into the ice, please.”

“Coffee it is.”


	2. nipping at your nose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's cold in Nyx's apartment and it's a travesty.

“Why is this not working when I need it to?”

For a moment, Nyx had no idea what he was talking about. Noctis was just glaring at the wall, hands tucked beneath his armpits, shoulders up to his ears, and looking like Shiva Herself had just blown a kiss up his ass.

Then, Nyx remembered that the little dial on the wall that had earned Noct’s scorn was the thermostat, and that he hadn’t yet informed his lover that it had absolutely no bearing on the amount of heat delivered to the apartment.

“We must be low on oil again,” Nyx said in a futile effort to placate him. “It happens.”

“This always happens?” Noctis asked, teeth chattering in horror. “Since when don’t you have heat in the winter?”

Nyx shrugged, smiling in apology. Noctis looked between him and the lying number on the thermostat. He shivered for a moment, then marched for the door, righteous, frozen purpose in his steps.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you’re going?”

“Talking to the landlord about buying the building.”

Nyx grabbed his arm and gently steered him away from the door and over to the bed, with dissuading words and a bunch of reminders about why that wasn’t a good idea. He sat Noctis on the edge of the bed and kept himself between him and the door. He wasn’t entirely unconvinced that the prince wouldn’t use every magical trick in his arsenal to dart past him on his warpath.

“Seriously, how don’t you have heat?” Noctis asked again, looking angrier _for Nyx_ than he was for being cold. “Is this… Has it always been like this?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s ridiculous! How aren’t you dead?”

“Many would like to know.”

Noctis glared at him, entirely unamused. If there were two moods Nyx knew Noctis could never be teased about, it was hungry and cold. He’d always hated the cold. He didn’t have an “internal furnace” like he insisted Nyx and Gladio had. And, more privately, something he didn’t like to admit to anyone, the cold made old hurts ache worse than normal. They were easier to ignore the rest of the year, but come winter, they had a habit of flaring up, cruel as a snowstorm.

“This doesn’t bother you?” Noctis asked, his rage slowly simmering down to sympathy.

The more he shivered, the more fight was racked from his body. Nyx felt like it was safe enough to abandon his guard over the door to do something about that. He went to his closet and slid through his small collection of clothes for a thick pullover that he sometimes wore jogging in the cold weather. He hadn’t had to use it yet this year.

“Nope, doesn’t bother me,” Nyx replied, gathering up the hem of the hoodie without any preamble to shove it over Noct’s head. That earned him a muffled “what the fuck” and a lot of flailing to find the sleeves and the neckline. His head popped up beneath the hood, hair mussed and rioting in his eyes. He huffed out a breath and sent the errant locks up in a puff. Nyx grinned at his handiwork and went to find some extra blankets while Noctis adjusted the hoodie.

“I know you don’t get cold, but don’t you _catch_ cold? Like, don’t you get sick?”

“It’s really not that cold, Noct.”

“It really is.”

Nyx rolled his eyes at the petulant look on Noct’s face, then threw a blanket at him. Then another when he’d just settled the one he barely caught. While Noctis made a nest of blankets and pillows and tossed aside clothes in the corner of Nyx’s bed, Nyx turned on some water for tea and coffee.

He glanced back at Noctis and chuckled. He was a burrito of blankets, one draped over his shoulders and the other wrapped around his legs, pillows smashed into the corner against his back. He was just a tuft of hair beneath a hood and a glare as cold as the air.

 “You gonna live?” Nyx laughed.

Noctis grumbled, wordlessly glaring at the lying thermostat and mentally cursing the landlord or the oil company or whoever it was that had condemned him to his frigid fate. Nyx wished he could sympathize and that he didn’t find the whole situation too funny to pity him. He turned back to the boiling water to keep from getting a pillow tossed across the apartment for laughing.

He poured tea for Noctis and coffee for himself and delivered the liquid heaters to the bed. Greedy fingers snuck from the over-long sleeves of Nyx’s sweater and clutched the hot cup to his face, shuddering out a sigh of sweet relief. Nyx carefully arranged himself beside Noctis on the bed, letting him share whatever covers he deemed Nyx worthy of having. Once he was settled, Noctis magnetized himself to his side, a wriggling pouch of comforters and old cotton, whining like a puppy.

“You’re so pathetic.”

“You’re so psycho if you think this is normal. I’m kidnapping you and taking you to my place until it’s spring.”

Nyx placated him with an arm around his blanketed shoulders and fingers through the frame of his hair peeking out from his hood. He took a sip of coffee and waited for Noctis’s shivering to settle. It took a minute or two for him to acclimate to the toasty pocket they’d constructed, but finally, he was breathing easy, his whole body crushed into a ball at his hip. The apartment was silent, nothing but the muted sounds of traffic outside and the creaky strain of heat trying and failing to work behind the walls.

Nyx listened to Noctis slurp delicately at his tea, a contented hum vibrating through Nyx’s chest. “I guess this isn’t so bad,” he mumbled.

“I wouldn’t let you freeze.”

“I still wish you’d let me pay for your heating. Think of it as a gift.”

“No, Noct.”

“Why?” he whined.

They both knew why. Nyx couldn’t and wouldn’t take advantage of Noct’s position for his own gain. Especially not for something he really didn’t need. The cold didn’t affect him. It didn’t endanger him. He wasn’t living in squalor, unlike the refugees that had surrounded him in the first year assimilating to Insomnian society. He was content with his living situation. It wasn’t the cushy prestige of Noct’s suites closer to the Citadel, but after a few decades, it was starting to feel like home. If only because he had someone to share it with.

Noctis closed his eyes and tucked his nose beneath the neckline of Nyx’s hoodie, breathing slow and easy, tea carefully held in the crook between them so it wouldn’t spill. Nyx trailed light touches along his back, more worried about his old aches than he was about the chill. Noct’s muscles felt loose and soft beneath his touch, loosening even more the longer he kept up the caresses.

“You really don’t mind this?” Noctis asked him, drowsily. “I worry about you, y’know?”

“You don’t have to worry about me. But thanks. You’re sweet.”

Noctis shuffled under the covers a little bit, hiding his cheeks within the hole of Nyx’s hoodie. He was crappy at taking compliments and always had been. Nyx thought it was adorable. As adorable as how concerned he always was. How considerate he was towards the well-being of the people he loved. Always trying to put them first before himself.

“I might have to steal this,” Noctis said into the silence, as if he could hear Nyx’s endearing thoughts and needed to escape them. He pulled at the hoodie, hanging large and loose on his frame.

“I’ll let you borrow it sometimes,” Nyx bargained. “Wouldn’t want you turning into a prince-icle this winter.”

Noctis scoffed, craned his head up to kiss him, and told him to shut up.


End file.
